The Man Who Is and Is Not There
184 pages, 6 x 9
Paperback
Release Date:21 Jul 2011
ISBN:9781558498983
The Man Who Is and Is Not There
The Poetry and Prose of Robert Francis
University of Massachusetts Press
Robert Francis (1901–1987), the author of eight volumes of poetry, an autobiography, a book of fiction, essays on poetry, and a reminiscence of Robert Frost, lived for most of his career on the outskirts of Amherst, Massachusetts, devoting himself to Yankee simplicity and self-renunciation derived from his reading of Thoreau. His preference for solitude and disinclination to write about or promote himself account for the elusiveness of his persona in his prose and poetry.
This book charts how Francis developed and elaborated this persona through distanced self-portraits in prose and through poems that both reveal and conceal the self of the poet. Folded into the study are discussions of Francis's pastoralism, his affinities with Emerson and Thoreau, his experimentation with new poetic forms, his protest against the Vietnam War and environmental despoliation, his homoeroticism, and a comparison of his poetry with that of Robert Frost. The book also explores Francis's characteristic attitude, figured as "hovering," where his speaker is both subject and object, writing about himself while inhabiting the role of detached observer.
Complementing the emphasis on Francis's elusiveness, Andrew Stambuk offers readings of his poems attentive to aesthetic qualities that give them their particular reticence. Stambuk's sensitive evaluations underscore that Francis is a craftsman of intricate precisions whose work speaks to contemporary political and global concerns.
This book charts how Francis developed and elaborated this persona through distanced self-portraits in prose and through poems that both reveal and conceal the self of the poet. Folded into the study are discussions of Francis's pastoralism, his affinities with Emerson and Thoreau, his experimentation with new poetic forms, his protest against the Vietnam War and environmental despoliation, his homoeroticism, and a comparison of his poetry with that of Robert Frost. The book also explores Francis's characteristic attitude, figured as "hovering," where his speaker is both subject and object, writing about himself while inhabiting the role of detached observer.
Complementing the emphasis on Francis's elusiveness, Andrew Stambuk offers readings of his poems attentive to aesthetic qualities that give them their particular reticence. Stambuk's sensitive evaluations underscore that Francis is a craftsman of intricate precisions whose work speaks to contemporary political and global concerns.
A careful and discerning interpretation of this highly original, formally inventive poet. . . . Stambuk's treatment of Francis's poetic techniques and themes, of his affinities to precursors such as Emerson and Thoreau and his older contemporary Robert Frost, and of his perseverance in pursuing a sometimes discouraging but ultimately successful literary career is judicious, balanced, authoritative, and insightful.'—Robert B. Shaw, Emily Dickinson Professor of English, Mount Holyoke College
'Stambuk is persuasive in carving out a space for Francis's poetry as a vital part of the later twentieth-century American literary scene, and this book is a much needed addition.'—The Year's Work in English Studies
'In The Man Who Is and Is Not There Stambuk takes a close look at how Francis's poetry, steeped pastoralism and the pleasures of Yankee simplicity, offers a portrait of the writer while also shielding him from view--a type of 'hovering' in which the speaker writes about himself while also taking on the role of detached observer.'—Daily Hampshire Gazette
'Any collection strong in college-level, literary critical examination of American poets and writings will find this a well-detailed critical examination.'—The Literary Studies Shelf
Andrew Stambuk teaches English at Hofstra University.
